Kale goes to the hill

Kale was 19 weeks old when these pictures were taken, he's growing. No longer a cute cuddly little chap he's beginning to look like a miniature dog. In his short life to date he has been introduced to quite a variety of experiences and has taken almost all of them in his stride. A very confident young fellow who is extremely keen on sheep. You may think it doesn't quite look that way in this shot as he isn't looking at the sheep which are moving away in front of him, that is because his eye has been caught by Moss who is out of shot bringing sheep in from the right. Time to get the little fella up on my lap on the bike or the sheep may well find themselves scattered all over the hill!

The heather is just beginning to come into bloom and I was expecting Kale to start sneezing as he found himself covered in pollen.

Although still young enough to head out on a hill gather I do like to introduce young dogs to rough ground, this is the sort of ground they will be working on in the future and they have to learn how to handle it, to bounce through the deep heather, cross drains and streams and generally get sure footed on unpredictable terrain.

Not only does he seem to possess a long tongue his tail also seems to be very long, I can't help but think that should he grow into his tail he will end up being a very big dog!

The gather took a couple of hours and for all young Kale thought life was great fun and he was more than prepared to bound around for miles out on the hill he did find himself getting a lift on the bike every now and again. His bones are still young and I really wouldn't want to run the legs off him, also it is a good learning curve to have to travel on the bike out on rough ground, something he didn't appreciate too much on such an exciting day as this, but one day, when he is feeling the pace, he'll hopefully be wiser and accept a lift graciously.